From what I gather, that’s pretty close to the Opening Day lineup, with the obvious exception of Hanigan behind the plate. Obviously, that’s Ramon Hernandez’s spot once he’s done with his World Baseball Classic experience.

Expect just about everyone in the lineup to play all nine innings today. The exceptions are Hanigan and Gonzalez, who’s still coming back from the knee injury. Same deal for tomorrow, when the group that travels to Bradenton will basically play the whole way.

Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing pitchers hit. I’ve been down here a week and have only seen DH-play. I’m an NL guy — I like seeing the pitchers take their hacks. Also looking forward to seeing Homer Bailey throw. I first talked to Homer back when he was with Dayton (my main gig is covering the Minors). Sure would be nice to see him fulfill all that potential, no?

Quote of the morning, courtesy of Dusty Baker:

“It seems like we’re not hitting because we’re not getting hits.”

Thanks, Yogi… In all seriousness, he explained what he meant by saying that the team has been hitting the ball hard, but that hasn’t resulted in hits. You know, hitting balls right at people, unlucky breaks, not finding holes, that sort of thing.

OK, folks, that’s it for now. Don’t want to use up all my ‘A’ material on the first day… — Jonathan Mayo

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